Wild Berries the latest to fall by the Brandywine beltway

I’ve said it before: every restaurant should stamp its mark (or menu, if there’s room) by the door. That would give patrons a chance to view the building’s history, if you will.

Some eateries would carry a lot of notches by the door – such as the building once occupied by Wild Berries, 4114 N. Brandywine Dr. Wildberries closed earlier this month after about four years. Before that it was Feldan’s, Ned Kelly’s Steakhouse, and, for a short while, Dane’s Bar and Grill.

Wildberries in Peoria: property for saleYou’d guess that the location would be good for a place that stressed breakfast like the Wildberries outlet (there’s still one going in Normal, by the way). After all, it’s right off I-74 and there are all those hotels around.

But Wildberries did more than breakfast. They tried to do everything. Their menu was like a combination of IHOP, Chili’s and the local pizzeria. It may have been too much.

But it was a busy place during my first visit. I reviewed it for the Journal Star back in 2011 with a co-worker. We started with the saganaki ($7.95) as an appetizer. One couldn’t resist the floor show: Greek cheese flamed right at the table.

I don’t remember much else about the food there except there was a lot of it and the coffee was good, hot and plentiful.

Why do restaurants fail? Service is key and always tough to maintain. Judging from some of the online comments I’ve read about Wildberries, that might have become a problem here but I can’t help but think that offering as much as they did: Greek dishes along with Swedish pancakes, pork tenderloin cubano, meatloaf sundaes and all the rest of it had to be a chore.

Another one bites the Brandywine dust. Who’s going to roll the dice next?

Author: Steve Tarter

Born in England, raised in Boston, I'm a Midwestern transplant who's called Peoria home for the past 40 years. Married with four grown children, I enjoy journalism, film noir and radio drama. As the song goes, I like coffee; I like tea. Former president of the Apollo Theater in Downtown Peoria, I'm looking for a new raison d'etre.
View all posts by Steve Tarter

I do the same at work. I plugged that god damn toilet up. It will be completely full of shit and paper. I don’t flush and keep the seat flipped up. Sometimes I’ll drop a few wads of poo poo paper on the floor, making the brown smudges visible.

I was a waiter there. Only worked for about two months. Didn’t make much money, but I guess I could have tried harder. We were pretty slow during the end of lunch and beginning of dinner. So right at 3:00pm I would go into the men’s restroom and lock myself in a stall. I would pull out my cell phone (cracked screen) and scroll through my ‘spank bank’ album. I would pick out the best pictures of John Stamos I could find and wack my pecker so hard that I’m sure my face turned beet red. I battled my cockard dry hand (maybe spit on the tip just for some slack). I would leave some toilet paper off to the side so when I was ready, I could release a FULL HOUSE of semen all over that super thin paper. Just drop that wad of wasted babes in the toilet and drop, drop- flush, flush. One day I forgot to lock the stall door and someone walked in on me spanking my truffle to a long haired version of Uncle Jesse (one with the pierced ear). I ran out the bathroom and the restaurant with my wick hanging out. I went home and finished my business then logged onto INDEED to find another job. I did not get unemployment from Wild Berries and I feel like I am the affected one here. Oh well. Bass Pro is treating me well.

Yeah I tried to book some tickets over in Indiana. The prices were OUTRAGEOUS. $45.00 to enter and another $15 to sit down. They only have three events.

The first event is a 3 minute long speech about rabies.

The second event is a photo collage of the family. But there are only about six pictures (photo shopped) of them going to the moon, sun bathing on the beach of some foreign country and one picture is of the daughter. She had dropped her ice cream cone at the zoo or some shit like that.

The third event costs an additional five bucks. You get to see the thrusting of a giant stallion named Thunder cramming his growth into the hole of some people dressed as the family.

Not worth it. Not even legal. That will be shut down too before you know it!

That is weird because I heard the talk they give at the beginning was actually a huge disclaimer of some kind. Like reading the fine print of a contract that no one gives a shit about until someone takes your shit.

Used the bathroom during a late lunch/early dinner. I opened the bathroom stall door and a gentleman waiter was standing there. His pants were all the way down and he seemed to be masturbating. His face was beet red and I’m sure his pecker was too. Fella must’ve been embarrassed. He quickly pushed me out of the way with his dick in hand. His loss. I would have helped finish him off.

I had a crazy dream last night. I was a young lad, maybe 11 years old. I was with my momma and she was putting a Q-Tip in my ear. My daddy had left for work and we were alone. Suddenly some bald dude with glasses walked in. Apparently he was a ward patient that had escaped and he tracked down my cougar of a mommy. He grabbed a hold and lifted her night gown. He did the dirty. While doing all of that he reached into my own pants and began to finger my little bum hole. I tried to get away but he held a needle to my eye. I woke up before anyone climaxed.

It has been closed for a few years. Went there a couple of times and everything was fine. We decided to try it out on their last day. I asked for an appetizer and the waitress reached within the back side of her pants. She then pulled out a pink butt plug and placed it on the table.

We never saw the waitress again (even if she was one to begin with).

My family and I left the table. Little Timmy tried grabbing the thing as we left. Gross.